Community Overview
Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Hidden Mountain Resorts offers a unique experience for a Smoky Mountain getaway. The Smoky Mountains are famous for timeless beauty. Now, Hidden Mountain Resorts offers the latest in timeless offerings, a future-proofed telecommunications network featuring Fiber-to-the-Cabin and Chalet (FTTC) technology.

Hidden Mountain offers a combination of vacation cabins and chalets, and often hosts business seminars, church retreats, family reunions, etc. The existing network supported dial-up and limited cable channels only. However, customers now require services similar to those offered at other homes or resort communities, including a video package, voice communications, and high speed data.

AFL’s Solution
Integrated Networking Technologies (Intec) of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was tasked with determining the best method of providing these services at a reasonable price point. Due to the rugged terrain, a wireless communication system was not an option, and they determined that the return on investment was better for fiber than an additional copper/coax build. 

Intec ultimately decided to use a combination of the Fujikura FNT-3824 Ethernet concentrator and FNT-3012-13 media converters from AFL Telecommunications to provide up to 100 Megabit/second connectivity to each cabin, and the Transmitter/HONU combination from Foxcom to provide video connectivity. Service is provided over two fibers to each cabin and connected to the existing wiring within each cabin, providing an unmatched combination of cost effectiveness and high bandwidth capability. 

Telephone service is provided via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) softswitch, and service quality is controlled by using the various Quality of Service, Type of Service, and V-LAN capabilities of the concentrator/MC solution. Internet access service is provided at 1.2 Megabits/second both upstream and downstream through the FNT-3824/FNT-3012-13. Backhaul is provided via several T-1 circuits, providing a high quality telephone experience for each resident. Forty-nine channels of video service are provided using a satellite service, and channels are sent throughout the community using Foxcom equipment. The fiber network enables security cameras to be inexpensively deployed throughout the neighborhood, providing a level of security that was previously unavailable. 

Besides providing the services above, an additional benefit is that the system can be managed from one location, or remotely. AFL’s concentrator/media converter combination supports standard simple network monitoring protocols (SNMP), as well as the TTC (Telecommunications Technology Committee) TS-1000 suite of features. Using these monitoring protocols, problems can be identified and fixed, possibly even before the customer is aware of an issue. 

In Conclusion
The fiber network and electronics enables flexibility for the system to grow as neighborhood needs increase. Internet service to each resident/visitor can be upgraded easily to 100 megabits/second simply by upgrading the backhaul service only. As customers continuously require High Definition TV and DVR capabilities, these services can be easily accommodated by adding appropriate set-top boxes and electronics at minimal expense. 

Links
Hidden Mountain Resorts www.hiddenmountain.com
Integrated Networking Technologies (Intec) www.intecsolutions.net